links outta here

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generator archives

1997 CD

 

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reviews

“A very good compilation of extreme noise and other oddities...” — The Sound Projector

“...a sincere product, which you should buy, if only for the good cause.”— Vital Weekly

“...contains sound works created in honor of Abigail Lavine by an eclectic array of acclaimed sound artists and musicians.”— Generator Archives

The Sound Projector

A very good compilation of extreme noise and other oddities put together by Gen Ken Montgomery for his own limited-release artefact label. It's dedicated to Abigail Lavine, a woman who died in 1997 (of breast cancer I think), and known as the co-founder of 8- Track Heaven, a website dedicated to the joys of collecting 8-track cartridges. A long list of top-rank noisesters and soundart nutcases appear, many with exclusive contributions. Divided into four programmes, there is clearly some attempt to structure the material; broadly speaking, we get the most extreme examples of noise-art on the first half, sandwiched equally with cuts that are puzzling, strange and unusual. Around programme three we get mostly voice-based or song works, followed by field and documentary recordings. Around the middle are a couple tracks that pay tribute to Abigail's obsession with 8-track cartridges, and indeed add to Gen Ken's growing interest in the ways this defunct medium can yield exciting results - hence 'Stairway to 8-track Heaven', his extract from a longer CD, where he derived a happy accident from faulty playback of a very cheap copy of Led Zeppelin IV. Among the noise-niks, we have (in no particular order) Emil Beaulieu with harsh feedback and grinding, The Haters with a dose of insanely ferocious roaring, Daniel Menche with an evil rumbling of dread, Chop Shop (ie Scott Konzelman, Abigail's boyfriend) with his cast-iron heavy pounding and rumbling, and A.M.K. - whose 'Reclosure' is a slab of nasty chaos turntable loops resembling mad wolves chasing their own tails in a prelude to cannibalism. These cuts of hefty metallic noise are for serious head-damage freaks only. Slightly more palatable are the junky constructs of Thomas Dimuzio and David Weinstein, which are engagingly offbeat. The voice works include Gordon Monahan making a recital in an echo chamber (in such ways that we can't understand a word); Blackhumour making a voice loop out of the name Abigail; Lary 7 using a found tape for a slide show and doctoring it with puzzling additions; and the absurdist poetry of Malcolm Riviera. His '8-Track Librarians in Outer Space' is hilarious - a throwaway piece of inspired nonsense. Field recordings include a slightly dark 'Walk in the winter field' by John Hudak, a sketch with some menacing dogs just on the periphery of perception; a barely-treated slice of life from Francisco L6pez. and the real-time antics of Abbey Lavine herself at a shooting range - which closes the CD. We've heard from her already doing a voiceover for her Tahini party, a track which emphasises the skewed 'fun' atmosphere of this increasingly deranged CD, the soundtrack for a bohemian festival of death in the midst of life. As 'downers' for the end of the party, may I suggest you unwind with the geiger-counter clicks of Carl-Michael Von Hausswolff or the imperceptible creaking and humming of Peter Duimelinks. (Both are extreme examples of mad process electronic art). Clearly, life in NYC must have been a non-stop funfest if you reckoned Abigail among your friends - maybe she was a later equivalent of madcap junkie boho film-maker, everyone's favourite Maya Deren. Limited release in nifty packaging, including a small art print by Leif Elggren (who also adds a fine track at the start). Go native. —Ed Pinsent

Vital Weekly

On April the 1st of this year Abigail Lavine died off breast cancer. She was the girlfriend of Scott Konzelman (Chop Shop), and this CD is to support them. 23 tracks by friends, and two by herself on a lengthy CD. Among them we find a whole bunch of people from the noise scene, that includes many US ones, but also some Europeans like Leif Elggren, Francisco Lopez, Peter Duimelinks and C.M. von Hauswolff. Some of these people do whatever they are good at, like AMK's turntable abuse, Blackhumour's tape-looped voices, or the fine sound processing of Small Cruel Party or Daniel Menche. Since Abigail was involved in the ancient technqiue of 8-track there are some of those, the most frigthening by Egnekn entitled 'Stairway to 8-track Heaven'. In all a sincere product, which you should buy, if only for the good cause. —Frans de Waard

Generator Archives

LINKS OUTTA HERE contains sound works created in honor of Abigail Lavine by an eclectic array of acclaimed sound artists and musicians: amk, blackhumour, chop shop, Thomas Dimuzio, Peter Duimelinks, Egnekn, Leif Elggren, Emil Beaulieau, Russ Forster, The Haters, C. M. Hausswolf, John Hudak, Francisco Lopez, Daniel Menche, Gordon Monahan, Malcolm Riviera, Lary Seven, small cruel party, tentatively a cONVENIENCE and David Weinstein.